Use of a shared decision-making intervention to support treatment decision-making for patients following an anterior cruciate ligament rupture: a mixed methods feasibility study.

Objectives: To understand feasibility, acceptability and indicators of effectiveness of a shared decision-making (SDM) intervention with patients following an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture.

Design: Non-randomised feasibility study with embedded qualitative interviews.

Setting: Orthopaedic and physiotherapy service at an acute National Health Service (NHS) Teaching Hospital in the Midlands, UK, between 29 January and 5 June 2024.

Participants: Patients diagnosed with an ACL rupture following MRI.

Intervention: Delivery of a SDM intervention which comprised of two components: (1) patient information leaflet and (2) option grid.

Outcome Measures: The primary outcome was to determine feasibility for a definitive trial using four outcomes: (1) recruitment rate, (2) fidelity of intervention delivery, (3) acceptability and (4) follow-up questionnaire completion. The secondary outcome was to explore indicators of the intervention's effectiveness using quantitative data from patient reported outcome measures (acceptability questionnaire and satisfaction with decision scale) and qualitative data from patient and clinician interviews.

Results: 21 patients were approached to take part in the study, 20 were recruited with a mean age of 32.2 (SD 9.7), 40% were female. The recruitment rate was 95.2%, fidelity of intervention 100%, acceptability 94% and follow-up questionnaire completion 100%. The mean overall satisfaction with decision scale score was 24.85/30 (SD 3.82). There were no adverse events. Data from qualitative interviews with patients (n=5) and physiotherapists (n=5) suggested the SDM was acceptable and appeared effective in: (1) supporting decision-making about treatment, (2) conversations between patients and clinicians, (3) improving patient knowledge, (4) providing patients with access to health language and (5) supporting patients to ask questions deemed important to them.

Conclusion: The novel SDM intervention is acceptable to both patients and physiotherapists. Indicators of effectiveness explored through quantitative and qualitative data suggest the intervention to be beneficial to decision-making processes for patients and clinicians deciding on treatment following an ACL rupture. All four feasibility outcomes were achieved, indicating a full trial is feasible to run in the NHS.

Trial Registration Number: ISRCTN17801081.